Influenza and Grace

Influenza.

What a bad thing.

I've had the flu jab.

But I've just been through the worst bout of influenza I think I've ever had in my life.

In fact.

At one moment, when the fever was at its worst, I actually thought my time on earth was at its end.

I began to sense something amazing.

And I craved it.

Heaven, no doubt!

I didn't get to Heaven.

But instead, today, I'm on the road to recovery, back into work for the first time in a week.

I've had all the man flu jibes.

I guess when people say, "oh, it's only man flu," you get this picture that people feel us guys make flu out to be worse than it is?

You know what I mean?

But with all honesty, I can say this was no "man flu", this was deadly and virulent flu, a type of fever that I have never experienced before. A type that I never ever want to experience again thank you very much.

As I sit in the quiet, reflecting before the mayhem of mission begins, I feel a really remarkable calm today.

I think the brush with death, even it was only in my head, I don't know, it felt pretty real to me, has set me closer in my relationship with Jesus.

I sit in awe this morning of the grace, the sheer substance of his mercy, that he showers on us.

I feel strong in the knowledge that, even if my feeling of dying was in fact a "man flu" symptom, I actually felt ready.

So as I feel the strength of recovery flowing into my body systems today, I feel humbled that I know God. I feel ready, ready to live.

One life to live.

There's a thought.

In the thick silence of S21, this morning, before anyone is in, The thought is strong.

If I'm ready to live, how am I going to live?

Well for starters I want to see the world transformed, humanity restored, justice maintained. I want to see my own life grow inwards, outwards and upwards. I want to live a life that takes in the maximum that life can bring. I want to truly live the change that Jesus brings to this world. Experience it, breathe it in breathe it out.

I want to really live.

Ezekiel was once asked when faced with a vision of a valley full of dry bones, "can these bones truly live?"

This morning as I sit in the silence of his grace.

I let it wash over me.

Yeah.

These bones can truly live.

My recovering bones can.

If.

We truly allow the Spirit of God to breathe life into us.

So.

Are you ready?

Ready to live?

I pray God will touch your life afresh today.

Cheers in the name Jesus.